Violent threats force another Dutch broadcaster to remove logos from vehicles
Due to continuing threats against the regional broadcaster, Omroep Brabant has decided to remove all logos and stickers from its satellite and commercial vehicles. "It's a sad low," editor-in-chief Renzo Veenstra said to Brabants Dagblad.
Omroep Brabant follows the example of broadcaster NOS, which removed the logos from its cars last year. NOS chief editor Marcel Gelauff called it a "defeat for NOS, but especially for journalism."
"What has been happening regularly for some time is that reporters and cameramen walk to the car in threatening situations to look for a safe harbor. The car is no longer that. It sounds exaggerated, but because of its recognisability, it has become a kind of target. So we opt for the safety of our people," Veenstra said to the Noord-Brabant newspaper. "Actually, I don't want to complain. We are a sober, tough Brabant broadcaster, but we have been through so much in recent years."
"Death threats in the mail, on the phone, along the field, and around our building. Reporters have even privately been harassed and threatened. We have already lost 30,000 euros on the security of our people. At the time, I did not agree with Omroep Gelderland's choice to stop reporting on matches. At first, I also said: we won't remove our stickers. But then you start talking to each other, and you conclude that the safety of our people must always come first."
